BERLIN, March 5 (UPI) -- The planned U.S. anti-missile system in Eastern Europe is facing growing opposition from politicians and the public in the European Union.
Ahead of this week's summit of EU leaders in Brussels, Luxembourg's Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn said the system, which foresees ten bunker-protected missiles to be stationed in Poland and a radar unit in the Czech Republic to fend off nuclear warheads from North Korea and Iran, destabilized the continent.
"We will have no stability in Europe if we corner the Russians," he said, according to German online daily Netzeitung.
In the Czech Republic, opposition to the system is growing. Roughly seven of ten Czechs are against participating in the defense system, and 80 percent feel a referendum should be the basis of the country's decision whether or not to do so.
Vaclav Havel, the former Czech president, has lobbied for helping the Americans, calling Moscow's criticism of the anti-missile system "scandalous."
Russian President Vladimir Putin last month at a security conference in Munich said the U.S. rockets provoked a new Cold War-like arms race.
The German opposition has meanwhile upped the pressure on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose government holds the rotating six-month EU presidency. Merkel has just managed to repair ties with Washington, and is in a delicate situation when it comes to the American missiles. Opposition leader Guido Westerwelle told the Bild am Sonntag weekly Merkel had to ensure that the missile issue didn't "divide Europe."
